Voucher program question still undecided

Neither side in the battles over Gov. Bobby Jindal's education package should be celebrating victory in the court decisions that have had mixed results for supporters and opponents of the package.

Everything is still in up in the air and until the Louisiana Supreme Court and a higher federal court issue final rulings, it will stay that way.

The first slap against the governor's plan was a Nov. 26 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle, who ruled that taking funds and shifting students from public schools for the voucher program throws a wrench into the Tangipahoa Parish School Board being able to comply with its court-ordered desegregation plan.

Lemelle, of New Orleans, issued an injunction blocking the program in Tangipahoa. An appellate court then stayed that ruling but it's not over.

Four days later, Baton Rouge District Judge Tim Kelley threw out using the Minimum Foundation Program to pay for vouchers. Kelley stated "The MFP was set up for students attending public elementary and secondary schools and was never meant to be diverted to private educational providers."

The Jindal administration has appealed that ruling and it will ultimately go before the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Then came District Judge Michael Caldwell's ruling that agreed with the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' argument that the administration was cramming too many separate bills into one package.

The legislation contained provisions changing how teachers earn and lose tenure, how they can be fired for having bad evaluations and shifted school board authority to hire and fire teachers to superintendents and principals.

Caldwell said that it's unconstitutional to have such varying subjects in one bill, so he tossed out the part that dealt with school boards.

The LFT wanted to eliminate the part that directly affects teachers, so it's considering appealing the decision.

The administration said the judge's ruling was fine.

So far, no one has won or lost any major court skirmish.

Kelley didn't say it was wrong to use public funds to pay for vouchers, just that it couldn't come out of the MFP. The administration is hoping to get that changed. If not, the administration would probably seek other state funding, as it did when only New Orleans had vouchers.

Caldwell said the teacher assessment part of the other law can move forward but the LFT is hoping another set of judges would see it differently.

If Lemelle's ruling is upheld, 30 other school systems that are operating under desegregation orders are sure to head to court.